Here's how Kentucky universities fared in new Best Colleges rankings

Is the principal aim of education to provide a padded yoke for the state’s pre-existing workforce? Or is it, all things considered, to improve our lives?(Photo: David R. Lutman/Special to the Courier-Journal)Buy Photo

This story has been updated to include Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, which was ranked among the Top 50 best national liberal arts colleges.

U.S. News & World Report just released its 2019 Best Colleges rankings, which compare Kentucky universities to other schools across the nation using a variety of metrics and are a popular reference point for prospective students.

The University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky both were included on the Top Public Schools list in the National Universities category, where they were ranked at No. 91 and No. 75.

Some smaller universities in Kentucky scored well on U.S. News and World Report's other Best Colleges lists.

Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, made the Top 50 on the list of the country's best national liberal arts colleges, with a No. 46 ranking. U.S. News and World Report's overview of the school credits its focus on study abroad experiences for students as one of its strengths.

Other Kentucky colleges were ranked as some of the best regional universities in the South. Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, and Bellarmine University in Louisville both ranked high on that list, at No. 14 and No. 17.